Here is a ( very long ) link to some seriously different jewellery.
It is not so much the somewhat extreme subject matter or design of
that person that interests me. It is the execution of such
over-the-top designs from computer to the 3D finished product that I
enjoy. Cad Cam was always somewhat clunky to me, and there was not
much that I could not make by hand faster.
That door closed.
There is no way that T.S.Wittelsbach’s jewellery can be made by hand
as easy ( easy, as in once you have become a master of your craft )
as he does by machine.
There is no way hand can make as many different designs as his
hand-guided machine, or as quickly…
Towards the latter part of the thread an Octopus thingi is designed,
milled out and cast that would strain even the best wax carvers.
This is the first time that I have seen jewellery CAD and RP that
simply cannot be made by hand in that style economically.
There is no way that T.S.Wittelsbach's jewellery can be made by
hand as easy ( easy, as in once you have become a master of your
craft ) as he does by machine.
I’m hoping that people were smart enough to search for the name in
the zbrush forums, as the link didn’t work - for me, anyway. Nice
work there and I don’t care to get into a “could it be done by hand”
argument, myself.
For everybody who’s interested, ZBrush is a seriously cool program,
used mostly in the animation business and by others who just enjoy
it. It’s not exactly, strictly CAD, though. It’s a mesh modeler (not
a solids modeler) and requires a translator to convert the file to a
solid that a CAM program can use…
Anyway… Most CAD programs use mesh or solids and you use
methods like sweeping to get your shapes, or you start with
primitives and tweak them. It’s like making a sphere by making an
arc and sweeping it on an axis, which generates a sphere. That’s
just generally speaking…
In ZBrush, you start with a primitive, too. But then you have tools,
and the main tools are push and pull. So you pick up a tool and just
poke at the primitive, which deforms accordingly. There’s also a
specific input device (mouse-like) designed to give feedback to your
hands, but it’s way expensive and I forget the name of it… In
short, it’s almost exactly like getting a lump of clay and sculpting
it into shape, but it’s on a computer. Very intuitive, very direct,
and loads of fun, too. Not cheap but not so expensive, either. See
it here:
Yeah, ZBrush is an impressive program. Has a LOT of interesting
features, especially for such an affordable program. It is kind of
meant to be used in conjunction with other programs. It’s probably
possible to get away with only using it, but some of the technical
stuff like the gem and ring sizes and all that that Jewelry programs
can make with wizards and such, is going to be easier with a more
traditional Jewelry oriented software. Going to be picking it up next
month and using my current program for the technical and measurement
oriented stuff and then loading it up in ZBrush.
I’ve been wanting it for years even though I’ve never had a reason to
get it until now. I was taught 3D in 3DS Max since I was originally
trying to get into the gaming industry and never learned NURBS, so
I’ve been having trouble really wrapping my head around some of these
programs and ZBrush is a bit more intuitive and hands on. The one I
did end up getting I don’t fully understand but has been great for
the really technical stuff like measurements and placement, but it’s
very technical and I’ve never been able to figure out how to get it
to do certain things I’d like to be able to do.
Also has a couple of other non-3D features that could be interesting
for some people, like the painting plug in that would allow people
who do concept work in it as well.
John, I agree with much of what you’re saying here, but you seem to
be confusing a couple of different modeling systems. ZBrush is a
nice program (and I sell it) but it doesn’t give you force feedback
or any particular input device to work with. It’s all about applying
2d displacement maps to primitive forms, which results in sculptural
changes to the underlying object. The system you’re thinking of is
from a different company entirely - Sensable Technologies Inc. and
it is based on an articulated arm device with servo-loaded joints
that develop resistance when one encounters the surfaces of the
virtual objects one is dealing with. I sell this system as well; it’s
more expensive than Z-brush, but as you say, very intuitive, direct,
and fun.